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Enlarge ImageRequest to buy this photoScott Cunningham photoCNN political analyst David Gergen, left, interviews former British Prime Minister Tony Blair at the Remarkable Evening fundraiser last month at Limited Brands founder Leslie H. Wexner’s party barn. The event began in 2002 to raise money to buy books for a new library.

Tony Blair popped into town not long ago. Yep, the former British prime minister. He was in New
Albany, cracking a joke about underwear models, talking to a barn full of folks about education and
government and world affairs.

If you didn’t know he was there, you probably didn’t know that Bill Clinton was there before
him, and Condoleezza Rice before him.

The New Albany Community Foundation doesn’t make a lot of noise about its biggest annual
fundraiser, which draws some of the world’s top speakers and pulls in millions of dollars from
donors. Organizers don’t even advertise the Remarkable Evening benefit. It sells out anyway.

“It
is pretty magnificent,” said Cindy Hilsheimer, chairwoman of the foundation’s board of
trustees. “I’m sometimes shy to talk about it.”

Remarkable Evening began in 2002 because New Albany wanted a library. The Columbus Metropolitan
Library intended to build a branch there, but money was a problem, said foundation executive
director Craig Mohre.

So the foundation approached library officials with a proposition: If they raised $1 million for
books, would the library project move forward?

“We set off with this audacious goal of $1 million,” Hilsheimer said, “and we ended up with a
million-three.”

Pulitzer Prize-winning author David McCullough was the first speaker for the new fundraiser. He
was so moved by the cause that he returned the next year to dedicate the library.

The speakers who followed came with piles of awards and accolades. Playwright Wendy Wasserstein
was among them, as were writers Doris Kearns Goodwin, John Irving and Walter Isaacson.

“We started really building a reputation for having a great event,” Mohre said.

Every event sold out, and every event — underwritten and hosted by Limited Brands founder Leslie
H. Wexner and his wife, Abigail — made money for the foundation. Today, the foundation has assets
of more than $9 million and has helped fund education, health, environmental and arts initiatives
throughout the city, including a $2 million contribution to a $15 million community arts
center.

Two years ago, organizers discovered that a big-name speaker — in this case, former Secretary of
State Condoleezza Rice — doubled donations, from half a million to a million, Mohre said. So the
next year, they brought in Bill Clinton.

“We doubled again,” Mohre said.

This year, Tony Blair took the stage inside the Wexner party barn in New Albany, and 420 people
listened and donated, collectively, $2.6 million.

The cost to get in the door of the Nov. 21 benefit was $5,000 for a pair of seats or $25,000 for
a table of 10.